Esoteric Encyclopedia Entry of the Week: Animism

Animism is the worldview that non-human entities (animals, plants and inanimate objects/phenomena) possess a spiritual essence. According toWikipedia:

Animism is used in the anthropology of religion as a term for the belief system of some indigenous tribal peoples,[5] especially prior to the development of organized religion. [6] Although each culture has its own different mythologies and rituals, “animism” is said to describe the most common, foundational thread of indigenous peoples‘ “spiritual” or “supernatural” perspectives. The Animistic perspective is so fundamental, mundane, everyday and taken-for-granted that most animistic indigenous people do not even have a word in their languages that corresponds to “animism” (or even “religion”);[7] the term is an anthropological construct rather than one designated by the people themselves.

Largely due to such ethnolinguistic and cultural discrepancies, opinion has differed on whether Animism refers to a broad religious belief or to a full-fledged religion in its own right. The currently accepted definition of Animism was only developed in the late 19th century by Sir Edward Tylor, who created it as “one of anthropology‘s earliest concepts, if not the first”.[8]